One Day Like This

V festival 09 - Australia, Centennial Parklands, Sydney.

I didn't make my feelings secret of how bad the last one of these was when I went 2 years ago... the lineup - so mixed up it made the UK top 40 sound like a Pink Floyd album in comparison, beer queues the worst I've ever seen and, well, that's enough.


This year... no margin for error, the lineup looked good, and I smuggled my own bottle of Vodka in to negate queueing up for beers full stop. Excellent move - cos guess what - those queues were still there... we're talking nearly an hour to get a drink - way to keep the festival vibe up V.

Anyhoo, the festival... it couldn't have been a more perfect day. The sky had zero white fluffy stuff in it, the temparature while hot, wasn't a scorcher, and friends were able to sit on lush green centenial park grass watching Duffy open the proceedings up, despite her grumblings of being first on for the first time in oh - a year or two. She was fun and sounded great. Next up was Elbow, I've been a fan of theirs since Asleep in the Back and finally got to see them live, not lively, but I didn't expect that, and again, a great way to enter the festival atmosphere as my vodka started to cement a foundation for the evening to come.

I did have to line up for some chips and a drink, which took all of 2mins, then I was back to the stage to meet up with Lauren and Oren again before heading off across the festival site to see Razorlight for the 2nd time in a couple of months - result! It was a very business like performance this time around, no frills - just fast hits with no small talk or smiles. By this point I was bellowing out every word of every song embarrassingly for the people around me I'm sure...

Time now for some dinner whilst queing up for food... again, not a great time - about 30minutes for some chips, but the Kaisers were playing about 50metres away so not the worst way to wait for food. They had the crowd, and indeed some of the queue rocking. I ate the last of my potato snacks humming "oh my god I can't believe it, I've never been this far away from home". The vodka was nearly done. Last top up was gonna need to last.

Next up, another trip across the venue to see Snow Patrol, The lead singer in very high spirits, so high, he kept forgetting lyrics to his songs, a little odd I must say, but everyone lapped them up and the stage show was great too...

Now for the grand finale... The Killers... Luckily we were all quite tipsy by this point, I'm pretty sure these boys were fairly average in reality, but banging out the hits from their first couple of albums was enough to get them through, even if the newer stuff was about as well recieved as a 3am wake-up call following on from a very spicy curry. I can't believe I've been going to V festivals since 1997 already, how time flies...

Russell Brand

Russell Brand, The Forum

Well, I have no photo's, no real measure to describe the gig and nothing else to base this blog post on other than to record a moment of my life in some kind of form.

So, Russell Brand... supported by Merrick & Rosso (Australian DJ's - kinda like Ant n Dec) - he was toooo funny. He had the crowd in stitches most of the time, and it was great to hear the old Essex accent in it's broadest form - even if it's starting to show hints of Hollywood!

"They wanted to put me on the sexual nuisance list for that!
I don't wanna be on that list...
...not for that anyway"

Paparazzi

Studio Lighting Day long workshop, Artarmon, Sydney

So as you may or may not know, I have been emersing myself in the world of photography over the past year or so, one thing that still felt very foreign however, was the use of off camera flash, and lighting people.

I decided to take a course with the same company I've done courses with in the past - a studio lighting course. I travelled over to Artarmon early in the morning and learned step by step how to light a low key shot and a high key shot with 3-5 studio lights, light metres and radio triggers.

The whole day was tiring, but massively beneficial to my learning and understanding in photography. I quickly shelled out for an extra brolly and a small softbox attachment for my flash... and started experimenting quickly.

Bring Change

ShapeShifter & Kora at the SoCo Mobile Cargo Club, Sydney.

The format of gigs seem to be one of those things that don't get tampered with too often. A concert hall, a bar or two, a merchandise stand, a stage, a band, a big crown, a lack of sufficient air conditioning; they're pretty standard. So the SoCo Mobile venue pretty much sold itself to me before I even knew who was playing. Actually, this is a lie, since the aforementioned is generally true; I struggled to work out what the heck this mobile venue would be like.

Benny and I decided to give this a whirl. We met before for a few beers discussing our thoughts of what we envisaged the gig to be.

We approached the venue, which basically looked like 4 shipping containers side by side, with some noise eminating from the steel. The doorman was like a circus freak... no offense - he wasn't ugly as a slate layers nail bag, but he had the crazy shades, massive Outkast style afro styled out with flares and a psycadellic skin tight t-shirt. Mad. We get in after have a laugh with said door staff and are greeted by a girl with 8cm long eye-lashes who gives us some blig to wear. The gig was sponsored by Southern Comfort, so it was all branded accordingly. In we go - to see an inverted sea of twinkle lights - on the ceiling. Couches and a comfort zone to one side, a bar straight ahead, and a stage not much more than 10cms in height from the ground. The band playing could be touched, if you really wanted to. I think it was women singing about "Gash" if memory serves. Nice.

Benny and I made our way through many of the manlier sounding SoCo mix drinks right before Shapeshifter would make it out on stage. By this point, the coke, red bull, ginger beer and SoCo had kicked in properly - not to mention the foundational beers... all this adding up to a totally healthy night, as we rocked out to ShapeShifter - great crowd, great band (who even came out and partied afterwards). Great idea. See it, if it comes to a town near you.

Rock n Roll Lies

Razorlight, The Metro, Sydney

Damn! These guys, finally in Australia! I just couldn't resist snaggin' a couple of tickets.

I've been a bit of a Razorlight fan since early 2004, I saw em playing in the New bands tent at a festival in Ireland, before seeing them at Brixton & Glastonbury... each time, they went nuts. I went nuts. Everyone went nuts.

After my recent ish bloc Party experience, I thought that they may have toned down their energetic act a little, but I was in for a refreshing surprise.

After again sneaking in my camera, under my jacket, we secured an awesome spot just behind the mixing desk, which at the Metro is great, since the sound quite frequently blows out when you're down on the floor or up high on the staggered seating. After analyising the playlist, I was convinced it was gonna be a good show, just enough new stuff mixed in with all the classics.

Johnny Borrell came out, fully dressed as usual, before bursting into song. 2 songs in, he was getting to be his usual sweaty self... shirt buttons undone and his personal take on drama was there for all to see. Theses guys certainly haven't lost anything with age.

As they played: "Fall, Fall, Fall" - a slow ballad - I made my move. I left Lauren up behind the mix-desk and shuffled my way through the flat footed crowd. I managed to walk, right to the front security fence. Just as I got there, the band burst into "Rock n Rolls Lies" I took this as my queue to get snapping. I blasted out a hundred and twenty frames over the course of that song before hiding my camera under my armpit, having a quick mosh for old times sake, and then making a swift exit back to the comfort and safety of my pre-reservered space. A throuroughly, as always, enjoyable Razorlight gig.

INVADERS MUST DIE!

The Prodigy @ The Hordern Pavillion, Sydney

Haha, wow. How am I supposed to give any kind of a review/blog to this gig!? In brief summary, it rocked the whole house. I have never seen an indoor gig go off so much. From the front to the back, the left to the right - it was like EVERY set of feet was jumping to every punk beat the boys from Essex could bang out.


Spitfire, Firestarter, Their Law, Breathe, Voodoo People... all the hits, and some how, I had the energy levels and adrenaline required to " 'ave it large" as I might have said about 12 years when I first saw these guys live. Awesome Awesome Awesome. Except - I think this may be the first gig where I went the entire gig without getting a clear sight of the dudes onstage.

Tennis and chilling in Melbs

The Australian Open, Melbourne 2009

So the morning of the main attraction rolled around. A few months back I'd seen an ad for the Melbourne Open on Ticketek and the rest of this trip spanned from there. I'd never been to see live professional tennis before so I was really looking forward to it. To make it even better, the beenie requiring temperatures at Phillip Island were totally obliterated and the mercury shot into the mid thirties. I would take a hat next time, but for the most part I was pretty comfortable most of the day; sweating aside :P

On a sadder, side note, this heat we experienced was the beginning of a very fatal heat wave that would grip Victoria for the next month or so, and take thousands of home and hundreds of lives. My respects to the emergency services and sympathy's to all involved are well and truly out there.

Lauren and I took a tram ride to the centre of Melbourne before walking along the Yarra to the Rod Laver Arena. We eventually found our gate and once again I was 'forced' into smuggling camera equipment in - due mainly to incompetent door men (my stuff was legit I tell yuz!). I've been out of the sporting loop for a little too long and soon realised that I only knew a handful of pro names - where did Sampras, Kournikova and McEnroe go!? (I jest). We checked out a bunch of games mainly starring home grown talent since the atmosphere was at it's best. I can seriously recommend this as a day out - $30 to watch some awesome quality tennis in the searing heat at a top class sporting facility. It was ace - just remember to stay well hydrated.

The atmosphere was truly awesome, the Aussie home fans getting right behind their home-grown talent, and between the courts, the buzz was that of pure fun. A great mix of people; ages gender and class were there en masse.



When we'd taken as much of the heat as we could, it was time to head off home. Sweaty as the day had made us, a shower was definitely called for before heading out for the evening meal. A tasty piece of meat with the setting sun shining intensely at us was definitely an idyllic way to see today out.

Afterwards, my old Sydney housemate Aaron came along and met us at the Crown Casino where only Louise (Aarons Girlfriend) would come out up - $100 on the WHEEL! Still, everyone was a winner with $10 cocktails... very nice.

For our final day in Melbourne, it was time to take in some of the sights of the shops, side street cafes and a final trip to St Kilda Beach (now it would be quieter). After a coffee & Eggs Benedict brekkie, I managed to do what I do best whilst shopping, and scalp out a bargain or two before we moved on. We checked out some of the infamous street grafitti before wandering through thee Melbourne GPO (General Post Office- which now houses designer shops and not much post office). I purchased a pair of Camper shoes, in the sales naturally - and was recommended to hit a roof top bar by the guy behind the counter. We duly searched the place out and was totally stoked that we did, for we got to see some amazing views of the city whilst sipping back on a coke under the comfort of a sun-shade.

From here, we decided to head back out to St Kilda beach. It was now Tuesday, and the crazy rush of the weekend had now passed. We were able to sit and dine on a La Roche lunch (something I did those years ago when I first visited the joint). Though in fairness, the in house beer was pretty dodgy - the chicken was great though!

We took a bit more of a stroll about the place, sat with a juice on the beach and appreciated the afternoon sunshine as the last day of holiday I would be taking until August... at least then I would be in positive annual leave, for the first time since January 08.

As is now tradition, we would need to hot-foot it to the airport to get on our plane. This trip was no exception, a tram back to the city, and a cab caught at peak rush hour (no easy task whilst carrying all the luggage) and we managed to get to the departure lounge with a few minutes to spare. No thanks to the gnarky Virgin Blue Hostess who checked us in.

Melbourne is awesome. This was to be the longest holiday I'd take for over a year, so it was a little sad to be headed back so soon... though it was helped a little knowing I had a couple of decent gigs in the pipeline.